Attn. Gear Nerds: Talking Guitars With Purling Hiss

November 2, 2012

Mike Polizze, leader of the Philadelphia psych-noise outfit Purling Hiss, can make even a two-dollar thrift store guitar sound like a molten slab of rock. In just a couple of years, Purling Hiss has gone from Polizze’s solo project to a full-fledged trio that’s toured with the like-minded Dinosaur Jr. and Kurt Vile (and not-quite-so-like-minded but also-from-Philly Dr. Dog). Polizze and crew just put the wraps on a new album due out on Drag City in April. We caught up with him in an exclusive video chat to talk about his modest guitar arsenal.

"More than any other contemporary African-American athlete, his ability to thrive in the pressure cooker of corporate America, while never making any embarrass­ing 'I’m not black, I’m universal' comments or selling his soul rather than just his visage, makes him a role model"

“Though his work for human rights is unassailable, the books grow worse and worse, the tales of his derring-do more and more farfetched. Finally, without at all forgiving him his lies, one feels sorry for Kosinski.”